Padre Island National Seashore logs more than 542,000 visitors in 2011, according to economic report

photos byRachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Denis Caplette repairs the sail for his windsurfing apparatus while visiting Bird Island Basin on Tuesday at Padre Island National Seashore. A new National Park Service report shows that more than 4.2 million national park visitors in Texas spent $195 million and supported 3,050 jobs in the state in 2011.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Bill Briggs brings in a weight used for windsurfing while visiting the Bird Island Basin at the Padre Island National Seashore on Tuesday.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Pat Anders reads signs at the pavilion on her way to Malaquite Beach at the Padre Island National Seashore on Tuesday.

A man fishes at the Bird Island Basin on Tuesday at the Padre Island National Seashore.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

CORPUS CHRISTI - Padre Island National Seashore drew more than 542,000 visits in 2011, mostly from outside the region, contributing millions to the local economy, according to a newly released National Park Service report.

The report came at a time when federal spending cuts threaten budgets of various federally funded entities, including national parks.

The parks service regularly releases an economic impact report and did not time it to coincide with discussions about sequestration, said James Doyle, spokesman for the service region overseeing Texas.

It’s not known how cuts would affect individual parks, Doyle said. That will be left in the hands of park officials who would decide how to handle the reduction and what services will be affected, he said.

Visitors to the seashore supported more than 500 jobs and contributed nearly $38.8 million, all but $2 million from outside the area, to the economy that year in lodging, food, fuel, recreation, retail and entertainment, according to the report.